deseipel wrote:it's interesting how the most awesome players are horrible at explaining things.

Referring to Thomas? I'd have to disagree. The "most awesome" players are extremely good at explaining things, most likely stemming from the fact they have a very deep understanding of what they are doing.

Thomas plays a lot of notes, with a lot of intensity - however every clip, it really just seems like he's going wild and throwing down as much as possible, often sloppy as well, with little regard to musical phrasing. Point in case, the inability to clearly explain himself is very telling.

How about the "study" of reality?The FACT that the best players in the world, the monsters, are extremely articulate in interviews, clinics, videos, educational material, books and so forth at explaining exactly what they do, how they got where they are and why the play what they play.

If a musician can't explain what they are doing, it's a very obvious sign that they don't really understand it. Like people who learn to play guitar via tab, and can play a ton of stuff - but really have no idea what they are actually playing.

How about the "study" of reality?The FACT that the best players in the world, the monsters, are extremely articulate in interviews, clinics, videos, educational material, books and so forth at explaining exactly what they do, how they got where they are and why the play what they play.

If a musician can't explain what they are doing, it's a very obvious sign that they don't really understand it. Like people who learn to play guitar via tab, and can play a ton of stuff - but really have no idea what they are actually playing.

I just felt like you were generalizating a thing(the best players->great talkers) and presenting it as a known fact.

(From Wikipedia: The word fact can refer to verified information about past or present circumstances or events which are presented as objective reality. In science, it means a provable concept.[1]

The FACT that the best players in the world, the monsters, are extremely articulate in interviews, clinics, videos, educational material, books and so forth at explaining exactly what they do, how they got where they are and why the play what they play.

If a musician can't explain what they are doing, it's a very obvious sign that they don't really understand it. Like people who learn to play guitar via tab, and can play a ton of stuff - but really have no idea what they are actually playing.

Sorry, I'm not buying this. I think Weckl, Erskine, Cobham -- these guys are teachers at heart. Listening to Gadd or Vinnie explain their stuff can be an awkward exercise in generalization. Gadd's videos, as awesome as they were, still make me feel uncomfortable because the dude obviously has spent more time playing than speaking to the public. There's not much conceptualization to his explanations -- you have to really strain to find them, though obssessed as I once was I found them helpful.

Not every great player spends a lot of time thinking about the 'why' question. They've always just 'done.' Those guys make for great drummers and awful clinicians. On the flip side, I've known some mediocre drummers who had an incredible inside-out grasp on the complicated stuff and could explain it in a way that makes sense.

“Let's try some of my songs.” Dave Grohl, top sign drummer will be fired.

There's things Thomas does that i like, and some things that i find seriously impressive, but ultimately, he's too much of a loose cannon for me to buzz off of. It seems to me that he's learned a ton of insane phrases but finds it very heard to piece them together cohesively.

I know you've never been a fan, but in general terms, I wouldn't use Thomas' playing as a basis for how a particular drum brand sounds. He has absolutely no concept of touch, AT ALL. He hits the drums way past their choking point, I think any drum brand would sound awful under his power.

That said, I absolutely love what he does for the drum community. I'm not talking socially, or in terms of 'Twitter', but he sure has people talking, and his playing has me on the edge of my seat EVERY time. I love watching him walking his drumming tightrope, going for things, not always nailing them, but having he guts to go there. Very interesting.